The need for balconies or platforms outside windows of multistory buildings has long been recognized. In general these platforms are of two kinds. One is a platform used by a worker for washing the outside of the window. This type of platform is readily removable and can be moved from window to window. The second type of balcony is for fire escape purposes.
An early proposed fire escape balcony is disclosed in Weaver U.S. Pat. No. 398479 of 1889 which was adapted to be secured in the window opening and which comprised a rectangular platform with a hinged joint through the middle parallel to the building, an outside guard means and an end guard means in the form of a lazy tongs. A lever was provided for folding the platform and drawing it in close to the building or for extending it in time of need. A ladder was secured to the building adjacent to the platforms so occupants of the building could step from the platform to the ladder and descend to the ground.
A later proposal is shown in Miller U.S. Pat. No. 1059062 of 1913 which provided a series of balconies secured to the exterior wall below each window in a vertical line of windows and which were connected by slides so the person in an upper floor could step out of the window onto the balcony, grasp a slide rod and descend to the balcony below it and so on to the ground.
There are also the familiar fire escapes comprising platforms secured to the exterior walls with connecting stairs to the second story (one story above ground level) and a vertically moveable ladder normally held at the level of the second floor platform and which can be lowered by a person on the second story platform to the ground level.
The proposed balconies and fire escape systems known to the prior art have many deficiencies and disadvantages. Among them are that they are unsightly, that they are relatively expensive to manufacture and install and that they cannot be made to blend with the appearance of the wall to which they are secured or to give a decorative affect to the building.